Cabinet refinishing

[ebarth1060]

I would like to refinish our kitchen cabinets. They are solid wood and have a light pickled finish that I would like to completely remove and then stain with a darker (not too dark) finish. They are a raised panel door and I'm not looking forward to doing all of the sanding. Are there places where I can take the doors and drawers and have them dipped to remove everything right down to the wood so that I can then stain them myself. I have friends that have painted their cabinets and didn't have to worry about getting all of the previous finish off but I'm looking at staining them not painting them. I am in a suburb of Philadelphia. Thanks in advance!

[MadMark]

Look in the phone book under "Furniture Refinishing". There are chemical dip shops that will dump your doors into a vat of simmering toxic waste and everything will come off the doors.

However the grain will be raised and after letting the doors dry you'll still have a massive sanding job. Not to remove the existing stain, but to get the doors smooth again.

It may be easier in the long run (although not cheaper) to remake the doors. You can buy custom doors from a lot of places.

http://www.rockler.com/rockler/images/Door_4.jpg

http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=5986&sid=AF243

M